Cloth wind-up for looms



OC- 13 1936- c. P. BERGsTRoM A1. I 2,057,409

CLOTH WIND-UP FOR LOOMS Filed Septt 14, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 eqnvenorsCarl E Berq'strom (Mbert Famer' .auw-PM Patented Oct. 13, 1936 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE t 2,057,409 v CLOTH WIND-UP FOR LooMs ApplicationSeptember 14, 1934, Serial No. 743,982

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in cloth wind-up mechanisms forlooms and it is the general object of the invention to provide a compactefficient mechanism for Winding up the cloth as it leaves the take-uproll. f

Because of certain conditions incident to cloth finishing it is.desirable to produce fabrics in strips as long as possible, and thisusually calls for looms built to accommodate a large cloth package. Inthe finishing operations subsequent to weaving, certain fabrics, forinstance, must have their ends sewed together to provide an endless loopso that they can pass properly through shearingmachines or bleaching ordyeing vats. The ends which are sewed together represent Waste cloth,and this waste can. bev reduced by having long lengths of cloth.

In order to permit the weaving Aof large packages of fabric it iscustomary to mount the cloth roll on movable supports which are normallyurged yieldingly upwardly so as to be in driving relation with thetake-up roll, and as the diameter of the package increases the clothroll and its supports descend. Each end of the cloth roll has its ownsupport, and the two supports must operate in unison so that' the rollends will move down at the same rate, thus maintaining the cloth packagein driving relation throughout its length with the take-up roll.

It is an important object of our present invention to provide as large acloth space as possible by using a form of connection between rollsupports which shall occupy very little more space than the cross girtsand othermembers entering into the structure of the loom frame. Thiscross connection may involve a shaft tending to elevate the cloth rollthrough intermediate gearing. For this purpose it is a further `objectof our invention to provi-de spiral springs connected to the supportsand. located at substantial distances from the cloth space to beoccupied bythe cloth package, together With reducing gears interposedbetween the cloth roll and a manual resetter for the cloth roll.

It has been common construction heretofore to employ vertical guides forlarge cloth-packages with the result that as the latter increases indiameter it projects more and more into the weavers alley betweenadjacent rows of looms, It is a further object of our present inventionto mount the cloth roll in such a way that as the cloth accumulates theroll' will move rearwardly and not project too far into: the alley. Thisresult we may accomplish by means of gear'segmen'ts moving .about arelatively high center and operating to swing the cloth roll rearwardlyas it moves down- Wardly.

The winding-up mechanism is ordinarily controlled through a manualresetter which we locateat the side of theV loom where it will beremoved from any space which could be occupied by the cloth package, andin accomplishing this result we also are able to mount the resetter aconsiderable distance above the bottom of the full cloth package. `Inthis position it will not interfere with an operator who Walks along thealley in front of the loom.

The previously mentioned gear segmentsr are driven about their commonaxis by meshing gears or pinions, and because of this fact we are. ableto provide these segments with upwardly opening bearings or pockets forthe cloth roll gudgeons which are accessible for all vertical positionsof the gear segments, thus facilitating the removal of a partly lledroll.

It sometimes occurs that the weaver will wind up the cloth rollsupporting spring too tightly with the result that as the cloth is woundon the roll the spring coils close on themselves before another cut ofcloth is taken from the loom. It is a further object of our presentinvention to provide a. yielding or breakable connection between thespring and the cloth roll drive which can be ruptured when the spring iswound too tightly to prevent breakage of more expensive parts. In thisconnection it isa more detailed feature of our invention to provide aholding device to prevent part Vof the train of driving gear fromstriking and soiling the cloth when said yieldable part is broken.

The spiral spring which we employ has one end operatively connected to ashaft turnable by the hand resetter. It is a further feature of ourinvention to construct these parts so that excess reverse motion willpreventI breakage of the end of the spring which engages the shaft.

With these and other objects in View which will appear as thedescription proceeds, our invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of ourinvention is set forth, and whereintwoforms of attachment for the spiralsprings are shown,

Fig. 1 is a, front elevation of the lower part of a loom havingourinvention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an end. elevation taken in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a detailed vertical section on line 3--3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 5 is an end view looking in the direction of arrow 5, Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on line 6-6 of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. '1 is a diagrammatic View showing the path which the cloth takesand indicating the increase in diameter of the cloth roll from minimumto maximum size, and

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but with a modified form ofattachment between the spiral spring and its shaft.

Referring to Fig. 1, the loomsides I0 are connected by a breast beam IIover which the cloth C passes after being woven, and also a bottom crossgirt I2. The lay I3 operates with a shuttle S and swings back and forthrelatively to the breast beam in usual manner, moving around an axis I4at the bottom of the loom, see Fig. 2.

A take-up roll I5 is driven by a gear I6 meshing with pinion I1 and thelatter in turn is driven by a gear I8 meshing with a. gear I9 on a stud20. The latter is supported by a bracket 2I having an upper foot 22attached to the breast beam and tied to the adjacent loomside by brace23. Fast with pinion I9 is a ratchet wheel 25 fed by a pawl 26 mountedon a lever 21 moving about a fixed axis 28. The lever is rockedregularly by some moving part of the loom, such as the lay, te give thefeed pawl a progressive movement each pick of the loom.

As the cloth leaves the breast beam it moves in front of and under aguide roll 30, is wrapped around the take-up roll I5, then moves infront of and over a second guide roll 3|, and extends rearwardly andaround the back of a third guide roll 32, from whence it goes to thewinding up mechanism to be described, as suggested in Fig. '7.

The matter thus far described is of common construction and of itselfforms no part of our present invention, operation of the loom resultingin a steady accumulation of cloth which must be wound up to keep it offthe floor.

In carrying our present invention into effect we provide an improvedform of support for the cloth roll 40 on which the cloth package is tobe wound. This roll has end gudgeons 4I which are supported as shown inFigs. 1 and 2 in the upper ends of a pair of similar gear segments 42and 43 and located respectively at the right and left hand sides of theloom. Each segment has an arcuate toothed section 44 and an upper arm 45formed with an upwardly opening pocket bearing 46 to receive theadjacent gudgeon I4 of the cloth roll. The segments are pivoted on studs41 adjustable vertically, the right stud in bracket 2l and the left studin a smaller bracket 33 having a foot 34 and a tie brace 35. By means ofthese vertical adjustments of the studs 41 the cloth roll can be held insuch position as to have driving connection throughout its length withthe take-up roll.

The gear segments 42 and 43 mesh with gears 45 and 55, respectively, andsince all the parts operating with gear 45 are similar to thecorresponding parts associated with gear 55, a description of theconnections for the latter gear will suice for both.

Referring particularly to Fig. 4, the gear 55 is mounted on a stub shaft56 carried in a bearing 51 mounted on the loom frame. A hub 58 isangularly and longitudinally adjustable on shaft 56 by means of a setscrew 59 and has driving connection with the gear 55 through one or morewooden pegs 60. These pegs may be driven through registering holesformed in the gear and the hub and are of sufficient strength totransmit all proper pressures. A disk 6I is held to the shaft 56 byscrew 62 and serves to prevent improper endwise movement of the gear 55should the wooden pegs 60 become broken for any reason.

As shown in Fig. 4 the outer or left end of the shaft has freelyrotatable thereon a gear 65 which is recessed as at 66 and is attachedas by a screw 61 to a housing 68 also recessed as at 69. A spiral spring10 is located in the recesses formed in the gear 65 and the housing andin the preferred form has one end 1I thereof inserted into a slot 12 cuttransversely through the shaft 56. The outer end of the spring is bentin the form of an eyelet 13 around a holding pin 14 riveted or otherwisesecured to the gear 65. The loomside may if desired have a bearing 15'for the shaft 56 to supplement the bearing 51.

It will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 4 that the gear 55, shaft56 and inner end of the spring 10 are all connected and move together,while the outer end of the spring is operatively connected to and moveswith the gear 65 which is thus yieldingly connected to the gear 55. Asstated, corresponding parts of the right hand construction for gear 45are like those just described.

Journaled in and extending across the loom frame near the girt I2 is ashaft 16 to the right and left ends of which are secured pinions 11 and18, respectively, meshing with the corresponding gears 65. The purposeof this shaft is to require both gears 65 to move angularly in the samedirection and at the same rate, thus causing the cloth roll 40 to remainsubstantially parallel to the take-up roll when moving away from thelatter.

In Figs. l and 2 we have shown a manual resetter on the left end of theloom. This resetter comprises a stud 88 extended laterally from theloomside to support rotatably a pinion 8| which meshes with the leftgear 65, and there is keyed to pinion 8I, as shownin Fig. 3, a worm gear82 meshing with worm 83. The latter is keyed to a short shaft 84 havinga hand wheel 85 and the latter can be turned in either direction to turnthe gear 85 either backwardly or forwardly. Shaft 84 is carried by abracket 86 on the loom frame.

As shown particularly in Fig. 1 the hub of the wheel 85 may be providedwith holding teeth 81 to receive a holding pawl 88 pivoted as at 89 tothe bracket 86 and having a finger hold 96 by which the pawl may betripped. Ordinarily the pawl prevents creeping rotation of the shaft 84and thus holds the gears 65 in fixed locked position.

In operation, accumulation of cloth will start with the parts in thefull line position shown in Fig. 1, with the take-up roll I5 rotatingregularly to move the cloth roll in the direction of arrow a, Fig. '1.cloth will move along the dotted line b from guide roll 32 to the clothroll and the gear segments will be in their high positions indicated inFig. 2. The springs in their respective housing will be tensioned enoughto hold the cloth roll firmly against the take-up roll. For eachrotation of the cloth roll the latter will move away from the axis ofthe take-un roll bv an amount Under these conditions the equal to thethickness of the cloth and gradually the cloth package will assume thesize indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2.

When moving down from the full to the dotted line position shown in Fig.l-the cloth roll 40 will cause a partial rotation of the gear segments`about their aligned studs 41, resulting in rotation of gear 55 in aleft hand direction as viewed in Fig. 2. This will cause a right handrotation of shaft 5B and the inner end of the spring 'IU in thedirection of arrow d as viewed in Fig. 6. Such an action on the part ofthe spring winds the same up to increase its tension and there is acorresponding force transmitted through the spring to the anchoring stud14 tending to move the left gear 65 in the same direction. Suchtendency, however, is checked by the worm and worm wheel and also holdpawl 88, as already described. The winding up of the spring increasesthe resistance of the latter so that the cloth roll is effectivelysupported even though its weight is increasing. i

By referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that as the cloth roll moves.`downwardly it will first have an advancing movement toward the front ofthe loom while its diameter is relatively small, b-ut after passing ayposition in horizontal alignment with the axes of the segments the rollwill begin to move rearwardly, reaching the dot and dash line positionof Fig. 2, from which it will be seen that the center of the roll is aconsiderable distance behind the front-most position which it assumesand that it moves rearwardly as its diameter increases, thereby movingthe greater bulk of the cloth package out of the aisle.

When the cloth roll has reached a sufficiently large diameter to requireremovalfrom the loom `the attendant will lift the hold pawl Si! and'turn the hand wheel 85 in such a direction as to cause movement of thegear E5 shown .in Fig. 6 ina right hand direction, thus relieving thetension of the spring andv simplifying the removal of gudgeons lll fromthe pockets 46. The shaft 16 which extends across the loom causes acorresponding unwinding of the spring at the right hand end of the loomas viewed in Fig. 1.

After the cloth has been removed and the remaining end secured to a newshaft 4E! the latter will be inserted into the opening bearings in thesegments and the hand wheel B5 given a reverse rotation` to wind upY thesprings, thereby causing the gears 45 and 55 to rock their meshing gearsegments in a counterclockwise Vdirection as viewed in Fig. 2 and raisethe new cloth roll shaft against the take-up roll.

It may happen that in this operation the operator will wind the springtoo tightly so that when the new roll approaches maximum diameter thespring coils will be closed on themselves and further motion of shaft 56relative to the stationary gear 55 will be prevented. Under theseconditions the segment racks will continue their rotation of theirdriving gears but the wooden driving pegs 60 will be sheared beforedamage can result to any of the more expensive parts of the motion.After shearing of the pins the disks 6l will prevent the gears 45 and 55from moving toward the ends of the cloth rolls and the latter willthereby be protected from the grease of the gears.

In the form of spring shown in Fig. 6 there is the possibility that ifthe weaver should wind shaft 56 in the reverse direction too far thespring will break at the point where it enters the slot l2. To preventthis we may use the modified construction shown in Fig. 8, where thespring IDI] which corresponds to spring 1G has itsrinner end bent toform a hook ll to be received by a pocket |02 cut into a shaft |03corresponding to shaft 56. The normal strain will` be in the directionindicated by arrow f, Fig. 8, and the hook will besuflicient to maintainnormal correct operative relations between the spring and the shaft, butwhen the shaft is given too large a reverse motion the inclined bottomIM of the notch will cam the hooked end of the spring upwardly torelieve strainingthe spring unduly. The spring will be suflicientlyresilient to tend to move the hook I I back into the pocket lllfso thata subsequent turning of the shaft |03 in the forward direction to movethe notch under the hook will again establish correct relationA betweenthe spring and the driving wall of the notch.

From the foregoing it will/be seen that we have providedV a clothwind-up mechanism having supports for the ends of the cloth rolloperatively connected by the shaft 16 which is in low position where itcannot interfere with the increasing diameter of the cloth package. Inthis connection it is also to be noted that the spring which tends tohold the cloth roll up against the take-up roll does not occupy anyspace which can be taken up by the cloth package but is located at oneside of the loom and is permanently connected to the driving gear forthe segments. It is also to be seen that the manual resetter isconsiderably higher than the cross shaft 'f6 and it is there-fore notonly more accessible but it is high enough not to trip the weaver whenwalking in front of the loom. It is also apparent that as the diameterof the cloth package increases the cloth roll moves rearwardly so that aminimum of the increasing bulk lof cloth projects into the alley infront of the loom. The pocket bearings in the segments are such that theroll can be removed with the segments in any one of a variety'ofpositions. Furthermore, the springs which hold up the cloth are ofspiral form and occupy 'very little space and furthermore are notdirectly supported on the shaft 16 so that the effective diameter of thelatter is kept at a mni- Also, shear driving pins are introduced intothe train of gearing so that the development of undue strains need notbe passed on to expensive parts of the equipment.

Having thus described our invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention and we do not wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what we claim is:

1. In a loom having a take-up roll, a cloth roll, a gear segment tosupport the cloth roll, a pivotal support for the gear segment, thelatter extending below said support, a pinion meshing with the gearsegment, a shaft rotating with the pinion, a gear rotatable freely onthe shaft, a spring operatively interposed between the gear and theshaft and tending to cause the shaft and gear to turn together, a wormgear operatively connected to the said gear, a manually operable wormfor the worm gear, said worm rotatable in opposite directions toincrease or diminish the tension of the spring and the latter effectivenormally to hold the segment in raised position, and a relatively weakdriving connection between'the pinion meshing with the gear segment andthe shaft, said weak connection to break when the coils of the springare wound together tightly on each other.

2. In a loom having a cloth roll, a segment gear at each end of thecloth roll to support the latter, a gear meshing with each segment gearbelow the cloth roll, a stub shaft for each gear to which the latter issecured, each stub shaft extending from its corresponding gear away fromthe center of the loom, the segment gears and meshing gears definingbetween them a cloth space extending to a point below the axes of thestub shafts, a spiral spring connected to each stub shaft and located atone side of the cloth space, a gear loose on each stub shaft andconnected to the corresponding spiral spring, means normally to hold thelast named gear against rotation, a cross shaft located below the axesof the stub shafts and extending along the bottom of the cloth space,and pinions secured to the cross shaft and meshing with the loose gears,the cloth roll capable of extending downwardly to a point below the axesof the stub shafts.

3. In a loom having loomsides and a cloth roll, segment gears locatedbetween the loomsides and the ends of the cloth rolll to support thelatter, meshing gears one for each of the segment gears located belowthe cloth roll, a stub shaft secured to each meshing gear, a spiralspring for each stub shaft, each spiral spring located outside theloomsides and having one end thereof connected to the corresponding stubshaft, a loose gear on each stub shaft located outside the loomsides andconnected to one end of the spiral spring, means normally to hold thelast named gear against rotation, a pinion meshing with each looseshaft, and a cross shaft to which the pinions are secured extendingbelow the stub shafts, the segment gears and meshing gears defining acloth space for the cloth roll which extends downwardly below the stubshafts.

4. In a loom yhaving loomsides and a cloth roll, segment gears locatedbetween the loomsides and the ends of the cloth roll to support thelatter, meshing gears one for each of the segment gears located belowthe cloth roll, a stub shaft secured to each meshing gear, a spiralspring for each stub shaft, each spiral spring located outside theloomsides and having one end thereof connected to the corresponding stubshaft and lying in a plane perpendicular to the corresponding stubshaft, a loose gear on each stub shaft located outside the loomsides andconnected to one end of the spiral spring, means normally to hold thelast named gear against rotation, a pinion meshing with each looseshaft, and a cross shaft to which the pinions are secured extendingbelow the stub shafts, the segment gears and meshing gears defining acloth space for the cloth roll located between the stub shafts andextending downwardly below the latter.

5. In a loom having loomsides and a cloth roll, a pair of spaced segmentgears to support the cloth roll, one adjacent each loomside, said gearsdefining between them a cloth space for the cloth on the roll, a bearingfor each segment located between the cloth space and the adjacentloomside, a meshing gear for each segment, a stub shaft for each meshinggear lying outside the cloth space, a spring for each stub shaft, a gearloose on each stub shaft and operatively connected to the adjacentspring, means normally to hold the last named gear against rotation, apinion for each loose gear, and a cross shaft extending below the clothspace and having the pinions secured thereto, the meshing gears, stubshafts, springs and loose gears being located at the sides of the clothspace.

6. In a loom having a cloth roll, a segment gear at each end of thecloth roll to support the latter, a gear meshing with each segment gearbelow the cloth roll, a stub shaft for each gear to which the latter issecured, each stub shaft extending from its corresponding gear away fromthe center of the loom, the segment gears and meshing gears definingbetween them a cloth space extending to a point below the axes of thestub shafts, a spiral spring connected to each stub shaft and located atone side of the cloth space, a gear loose on each stub shaft andconnected to the corresponding spiral spring, a cross shaft locatedbelow the axes of the stub shafts and extending along the bottom of thecloth space, pinions secured to the cross shaft and meshing with theloose gears, the cloth roll capable of extending downwardly to a pointbelow the axes of the stub shafts, and a manually operated worm and gearunit operatively connected to one of the loose gears and located abovesaid loose gear to provide means for turning the cross shaft and pinionfrom a point located at one side of the cloth space.

CARL P. BERGSTROM. ALBERT PALMER.

